Opening of the 38th Slovenian Music Days

Music exists as an artistic work in two forms: as musical notation on paper, which defines its identity; and as its rendering in sound, which gives it meaning. A musical score is thus a mute representation of a work that requires an interpreter, a mediator and a translator to transform it into sound. A performer, in other words, who gives life to a musical work and builds a bridge between the composer’s intentions and the listener.
Music as interpretative art, which is the main theme of the 38th  Slovenian Music Days, is a complex and heterogeneous artistic process that requires a balance between the technical mastery and the expressive depth of the interpreter: fidelity to the composer’s score is merely the base on which the interpreter builds their own vision of the work they are performing, rendering it unique, unrepeatable and personal.
The opening concert of the upcoming festival of music shines a light on twenty-first-century Slovene musical creativity while at the same time placing the spotlight on three major names from the post-war generation of composers. Kozina Prize recipients Aldo Kumar, Tomaž Svete and Uroš Rojko are composers of the so-called young avant-garde, representing a continuation of progressive techniques and methods, who over the course of decades have evolved their own musical languages that are respectful of tradition but at the same time original.
Aldo Kumar’s rich and varied oeuvre is distinguished by a characteristic communicativeness of musical expression that is reflected in the composer’s popularity at home and abroad. His greatest triumphs include a performance of his composition Strastra  for organ and orchestra by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in St Petersburg. The colourful sonic palette of this work, glowing with the energy of orange warmth, will be interpreted by one of Slovenia’s most prominent organists, Tomaž Sevšek.
Another composer with a many-faceted oeuvre is Tomaž Svete, a leading figure in Slovene opera, whose extraordinary musical creativity is reflected in heightened expressiveness, a rich musical texture, harmonic complexity and emotional depth. International violinist Lalita Svete will give the premiere performance of his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, a work of which she is also the dedicatee.
The varied oeuvre of Uroš Rojko, whose weighty, architectonically constructed compositions are shot through with unerring individuality, is also original and profoundly thoughtful. His new work Running Out of Time VII,  the latest in a series of compositions with the same name that draw inspiration from the transience of life, was written for two pianists with a strong commitment to new music: Lovorka Nemeš Dular and Nina Prešiček Laznik.